Page 58 of My Demon Manny

"Or we could adopt him," Archer murmured, the first words he'd spoken since the discussion started.

Hearing his voice reminded me of what he'd said before. I'd been trying not to think about it because I was in real danger of turning into a blubbering mess if I did, so I pushed the thought aside and focused on what he'd said, which wasn't much better.

"You'd want to?" I asked, gazing back at him. I was quite certain I had hearts in my eyes as I stared up at him, and that the king and Artemus were watching us avidly, but I didn't care. I wanted them to know how much I loved this human, and how much his words meant to me.

"Yeah," Archer said softly, reaching out to cup my cheek. "I would."

Turning my head, I pressed a kiss to his palm before facing forward and meeting Artemus's penetrating gaze. "If they don't want him back, we'll adopt him."

Artemus smiled, then gave me a nod. "That's good to hear. He'll be lucky to have both of you. We'll talk to Tharion and then set up a meeting with the fae. We'll be back with news as soon as possible."

King Damien and Artemus didn't stay for long after that, and once they were gone, Archer and I returned to the living room, slumping on the couch side by side.

Now that I had a moment to breathe, Archer's words earlier rushed to the forefront of my mind. Turning just my head, I watched him as he made a face at Gunner, a smile quirking my lips. God, I loved him so much.

"I love you too," I said in a low voice, because that's what he'd said earlier when he'd called Gunner our son.

With just two words, he'd told me everything I needed to hear. He'd told me he loved me, that he wanted me to be a part of this family. That he never wanted me to leave. That Archer and Gunner were mine just as surely as I was theirs.

Archer's face brightened, a wide smile spreading across his lips, and Gunner cheered as Archer leaned closer and pressed his lips to mine.

"I love you so very much, my dear demon."

"Baaa!" Gunner added, not to be left behind, and my heart filled with so much joy I wondered if it'd ever be able to beat regularly again. Hell, who needed a regular heartbeat anyway?

Twenty-Five

Archer

Over the next threedays, we discovered that taking care of two babies was wildly different from taking care of one baby.

For one, both babies had a different internal schedule, which meant that when one was hungry, the other had just fallen asleep, and we had to juggle them to make sure they didn't wake the other.

Baby Fae—we'd taken to calling the fae baby that, since neither of us felt comfortable naming him until we knew for sure we'd be keeping him—wasn't very fussy, which was a blessing, though Gunner seemed determined to make up for it. I thought hefelt jealous of the newcomer, and didn't feel like sharing our attention.

I'd had to go back to work since I couldn't exactly tell my friends we had a second baby at home, but I'd checked in with Lux every chance I could, and rushed home the moment the clock hit five.

The worst part of the whole thing was waiting to hear from Artemus and the king. Not knowing whether the baby would stay with us was awful, and despite my best attempts not to, I was starting to get attached to him, and so was Lux. He tried to act like he wasn't, but I'd seen him with the baby, and I could tell he truly adored the child.

When I returned home that evening, I found both babies sitting on the playmat, with Gunner handing Baby Fae some of his toys one by one while Baby Fae took them, eyed them curiously, and then placed them on the mat. The sight made me smile, and I shared a glance with Lux, who sat on the armchair, watching them play.

I could hear utensils puttering around in the kitchen, and for a moment I worried we had visitors, but then I realized Lux was using his magic to cook us some dinner. I'd learned that he preferred to do the actual cooking instead of magicking up the food, but clearly he'd made a compromise so he could spend time with the kids. It was a very Lux thing to do, and I walked across the room to settle on the arm of the armchair, turning so I was facing him.

"Hey," I murmured, reaching down to cup his jaw. He smiled up at me, his blue eyes sparkly as ever, and I leaned down to press a kiss to his lips. I'd missed him today.

Since the arrival of Baby Fae, we'd barely had any time for each other. After confessing my feelings to him, I'd hoped to spend some time making him feel loved, but I'd had to hit pause on that. I didn't think we'd be able to do much of anything untilwe got out of this limbo, until we knew for sure if Baby Fae would be staying or leaving.

"We missed you," Lux murmured against my lips, and I smiled as I leaned back, gazing into his eyes.

"I missed you guys too," I said, then glanced down at the babies. "How have they been?"

"Good! Gunner gets fussy if he doesn't get to play with his new friend."

"It looks like they're getting along."

"Yeah. I just hope Gunner doesn't get too attached. At least, not until we know what's going to happen to Baby Fae," Lux said, and I hummed in agreement. It would be awful if any of us got attached to Baby Fae, then had to say goodbye to him, but a part of me also hoped that he had parents somewhere out there who were worried about him and wanted him back.

I leaned into Lux as I watched the babies, and we stayed like that for a while before Lux declared dinner was ready. I excused myself to freshen up, and tried to keep my mind off Lux and all the things I wanted to do to him as I showered. I knew we weren't going to get a chance to be together until we figured out a system for the babies, and I knew neither of us were willing to do that until we knew Baby Fae's fate. I hated dangling in the middle like this, and I hoped the Otherworlders would find an answer for us soon.

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